Despite several months of doom-and-gloom economic predictions from Steve Wynn, the mogul has decided to “buy American” again, not only returning to the site of previous skirmishes (Philadelphia) but also taking a second run at Massachusetts. S&G was no fan of Wynn’s decision to call it quits after being essentially voted out of Foxborough by the local stuffed-shirt brigade. To be fair to the NIMBYs, Wynn’s proposed casino-lodge would have literally been in some of their back yards. And it must have been an eye-opening experience for the mogul to realize that the Foxburghers might like to visit a Steve Wynn casino but they sure as hell didn’t want to live near one.
Initially, it looked like Wynn had taken his ball and gone home. However, the Boston area has drawn some pretty anemic competition for its one casino license. There’s the $1 billion smoke-and-mirrors proposal of Suffolk Downs owner Richard T. Fields and Caesars Entertainment (who will probably be spurred to ever-more-brash spending promises with Wynn Resorts breathing down their neck). Then there’s the barely substantive David Nunes project further out in the ‘burbs. Asked what set his project apart, Wynn replied pithily, “The developer,” and we know damn well what he meant by that. Besides, it could take Pennsylvania‘s gaming commission a full year to sort through six Philadelphia proposals — including Wynn’s — so El Steve has a bit of free time in which to contemplate other markets.
Instead of rubbing elbows with the white-collar crowd that gave him the cold shoulder in Foxborough, Wynn has set his sights upon blue-collar Everett and an in-need-of-remediation Monsanto Chemical plot that the city would dearly love to unload. (Who pays for cleanup of the site could be a sticking point; Wynn says, ‘Not me!’) Vehicular access superior to that at 
Suffolk Downs is another Wynn selling point. If Everett voters approve — and early reaction was largely favorable — and if Bay State regulator-in-chief Stephen Crosby is serious about companies’ balance sheets being an important selection criterion, Wynn should win this bid in a walk. By the same measurement, Mohegan Sun‘s pitch for a casino in Palmer ought to be a laughingstock. However, Caesars has “juice” in the form of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and House Speaker Robert DeLeo (left), who has seemingly vowed to put slot machines into Suffolk Downs if it’s the last earthly thing he does. (Wynn’s contemplated site is five miles directly west of the Downs.)
Wynn’s not the first major casino operator to have a look-see at Everett. Both Hard Rock International and Neil Bluhm‘s Rush Street Gaming kicked the tires but their hesitancy 
to commit has put Wynn at the front of the queue. Having already pulled out of Springfield (followed, quite acrimoniously, by Ameristar Casinos), where local support appears solid, Hard Rock claimed to be “serious” about Everett but evidently hasn’t quite been serious enough. Bluhm has gone off it altogether. Hard Rock dickered with Holyoke, out in western Massachusetts, but even though Mayor Alex Morse did a 90-degree turn on the issue, Hard Rock is no longer in the running (Seminole Gaming CEO Jim Allen reiterated that position to me last week). Instead, Morse will have to put his chips on amusement park owner Eric Suher. (I know: “Who?!?!?“)
While Wynn, Caesars, et al slug it out, New Hampshire might finally steal a march on the Bay State. One of gaming-related subplots that I overlooked during election season was that 
the endlessly vacillating John Lynch (D) would finally be out of the governor’s mansion, clearing the way for a pro-racino successor. Recent convert Ovide Lamontagne (R) lost to longtime gambling supporter Maggie Hassan (D, right) but Salem racetrack Rockingham Park was the clear winner, as it’s the frontrunner for casino status, especially with Cannery Casino Resorts owners Bill Wortman and Bill Paulos vowing to invest $450 million. Hassan only wants one gambling hall in the state but lawmakers may have other ideas. They’ve got at least two years to beat Massachusetts to the punch but, had it not been for Lynch, they’d be in the game already.
It’s back to the bank for sorely troubled Revel, which needs another multi-million-dollar cash infusion to keep the lights burning. Perhaps the $2.4 billion megaresort should get a mulligan this time, due to unforeseen circumstances better known as Hurricane Sandy. More importantly, it looks there’s been some housecleaning, with top managerial personnel getting the sack and a new marketing director, Darlene Monzo, being imported from Parx Casino, near Philly — a place that certainly knows how to eat Atlantic City‘s lunch. Monzo’s challenge will be to reverse-engineer that formula to work for the Boardwalk. Although virtually everything that could have gone wrong with Revel has gone wrong, CEO Kevin DeSanctis (left) still has a job, which makes him the luckiest man in the industry.
In an even more surprising development than Steve Wynn getting voted out of Foxborough, the seemingly leading contender for a western Massachusetts casino 
tranche of Capitol Hill in the last election cycle? Learning that 
In a hilariously, characteristically Adelsonian form of megalomania, the mogul is reported to have attempted to purchase the 2012 election largely in a fit of pique because “he didn’t like the way he felt treated by [federal] prosecutors.” They don’t get paid to be nice, Shel, they’re paid to get convictions. (Adelson’s snit, incidentally, is yet another reminder of the dangers of surrounding oneself with sycophants.) This week finds the CEO in Washington, D.C. 
Brookings’ data 
Here’s a handy guide to using the online Las Vegas guidebooks written by yours truly — sort of a tourist’s extension of S&G, available through all Hilton-branded hotels and timeshares. Since these only concentrate on carefully selected highlights of Sin City, there are merely supplemental to the truly comprehensive coverage provided by 
… a mix of recommendations (“Around Town”) and current events (“Local News”). Click on “Around Town” and — voila! — there is … 
Despite support from an unlikely coalition that includes the American Gaming Association, the National Fraternal Order of Police and the National Association of Convenience Stores, federal legalization of Internet poker seems no closer in the 2012 lame duck session of Congress than it did at the same juncture two years ago — the famous moment when Gary Loveman proclaimed it to be just around the corner. It’s been a helluva long corner and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) 
Is it any wonder that Trump International and other Donald Trump-branded hotels are struggling when they wait until the day before Thanksgiving 
For months, state Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), has been threatening to push an enormous gambling expansion through the Illinois Legislature during its lame-duck session. He says he’s “
pot-shot at Trump’s combover, which is described as resembling “cotton candy made from piss” (although I think the latter might actually look better). You might yourself wishing you could see the outtakes from sitcom Celebrity Apprentice, as they’re better than anything that made air: Contestants were subject to Hilter’s bunker-style tantrums during which The Donald went “into his free-form rants in front of a captive audience, he would talk about articles written about him and defend himself against charges made, as far as I could tell, by random bloggers with a few hundred hits. Attacks that could have no impact on his life at all. It sounded like this cat was Googling himself, being bugged by what was written, and then defending himself to people who were trying to improve their careers by playing a TV game with him.”
Caught between the twin hazards of prospective higher taxes on investment income and the looming fiscal cliff, Steve Wynn 
Penn National Gaming has announced that it will split itself into an operating company and a REIT. The casino properties will be cleft between the two entities, with Penn National leasing most of them from the REIT. OK, let’s get right to the bottom line: 
“I just don’t get it: How can Hostess go out of business in the land of the fattest asses on the planet? That’s like the French quitting wine and cheese making, or Hawaiians giving up on surfboards. It’s a world gone mad.” — Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Steve Sebelius.
Rouge market 58% upward, grossing $11 million at the expense of Argosy Baton Rouge (-10%) and especially Penn National Gaming‘s Hollywood Baton Rouge (-25%). Still, Pinnacle is growing the “Red Stick” market, not just cannibalizing it. The bright spot in Shreveport (-5% overall) was Horseshoe Bossier City, up 9%. Caesars Entertainment also had a strong month at Harrah’s New Orleans (+5.5%), whereas the rest of the Big Easy market — with the exception of the Fair Grounds racino (+7%) — was in the doldrums. Even Lake Charles had an atypically “off” month, down 5%. Bottom line: It was an encouraging October for Pinnacle (+20%) and Caesars (+5%); for Boyd Gaming (-6%) and Penn National, not so much.
Gaming‘s enormous Maryland Live slot parlor has already held a big media hoedown 
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Late-breaking stories usually bode ill but it’s nothing of the sort at Bally Technologies, where a transfer of power was announced during the waning hours of the day. CEO Richard Haddrill (left) steps aside and up, moving to chairmanship of the board at year’s end. President/COO Ramesh Srinivasan will become the new CEO. The latter is a seven-year Bally veteran, having previously overseen its systems division. Pre-Bally, he worked with Haddrill at software firm Manhattan Associates, so it’s fair to say he’s been groomed for the top spot at BYI. J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff sees nothing at all untoward in this bit of musical chairs, due to “recent momentum across [Bally’s] three operating segments,” adding that the company is “going smoothly.” Nor will Haddrill be a back-seat chairman: Greff reports his brief will encompass “long-term strategic initiatives, international expansion and i-gaming.” By contrast, Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli found 
Riverside has been screeching downward by high double-digit amounts for eight consecutive months. It fell 23% last month, as a casino that grossed $16 million in the first month of the year just posted $12 million in gaming revenues, skidding past Harrah’s North Kansas City ($15 million, -6%) on its way to third place. Penn is no stranger to scorched-earth tactics: It was prepared to walk away from a fully completed casino in Maryland before it even opened, so don’t tell me CEO Peter Carlino wasn’t willing to sacrifice a big chunk of Argosy business in order to have some Kansas action, too. Although both Isle of Capri Kansas City (-7.5%) and Ameristar Kansas City (-12%, left) having been taking hits, nobody’s reveneus been bled the way Penn has exsanguinated Argosy. (